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Man held in southern Nevada motel kidnapping case

By KEN RITTER Associated Press

Updated:
01/15/2014 05:12:44 AM EST

LAS VEGAS—A woman told police that she was held against her will for several months at a southern Nevada motel by her former boyfriend, an ex-felon from Minnesota who's due in a Las Vegas court Wednesday on kidnapping and other charges.

Jason Edward Greniger, 34, was being held Tuesday at the Clark County jail in Las Vegas until an initial court appearance on a kidnapping charge that could carry a possible sentence of up to 15 years in prison and a $15,000 fine. Court officials said it was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer.

Greniger was arrested Saturday in Mesquite, a Nevada resort town about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas, after his 26-year-old ex-girlfriend, Sheena Herschbach, told police that Greniger used threats to hold her against her will for about six months.

Mesquite police Sgt. MaQuade Chesley said Herschbach told police Greniger used physical violence and promises to harm her and her family, and sometimes physically blocked the door to prevent her from leaving.

A police report said Herschbach was sometimes allowed to go to a store to buy beer, but that Greniger told her if she went to the police he would hurt or kill her. Chesley said Herschbach appeared to be in fear of her life and the life of her children.

Herschbach told the Las Vegas Review-Journal (http://bit.ly/1eGjp0A) that she and Greniger had been together since 2009 and have three children, who were placed in foster care after Greniger was convicted in a child punishment case.

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Herschbach said she has two other children who now live with their father in Minnesota.

Greniger was sought on a warrant issued last July in Minnesota's 9th District Court in Grand Rapids following his conviction of felony malicious punishment of a child under 4 years of age, Itasca County Sheriff Chief Deputy Gregg Deutsch said.

Greniger made a brief extradition appearance Tuesday by jail videoconference before a Las Vegas judge, and agreed not to contest his transfer in custody to Minnesota if authorities there seek his return.

Court records show that Greniger also was convicted of misdemeanor disorderly conduct before he was sentenced in Minnesota in June to five years of probation with strict conditions.

Deutsch said Herschbach had an active protective order against Greniger.

Herschbach told the Review-Journal she moved last summer to California, but Greniger followed her and she agreed to take him back.

The telephone went unanswered Tuesday at the motel where Hershbach and Greniger had been living.